Athena: Fall of Europe (IC)

[Unified Free Lands]

..."Przeklęty, I'm sorry."...

"It can't be helped," Schumann grumbled, grimacing. He noticed Lebe still had his eyes open, and before anyone would puke from the combined force of death and military vehicle driving, he pressed his hand against Lebe's eyes gently, pulling down and closing them for one last time. The private was still young, he shouldn't have been subjugated to a quick death.

..."Hey, wait up!" she shouted one more time, still waving.

"This is taking battle taxi to a whole new meaning," the driver muttered in German, stopping once more and giving the green light to open the hatch. Again, Schumann routinely picked up his battle rifle, shoved the door open, and ordered, "State your identity!" Max finished up with the SEAL's wounds to the best of his abilities, and said in rough English, "You vill get help, ja? Do not vorry."

"Private Anka Jezdimirovic, I'm with Athena," Anka stated in heavily accented English, climbing in the IFV. "And formerly of... Uh, the Foreign Legion."
Why so hostile? Can't they recognize me as being from Athena? Is it because I'm Serbian? Yeah, that must be what it is. Fucking Germans...

[Sonitusia]

Schumann didn't stop aiming, and his unease continued to grow as the female operator decided to get in without his authorization. He didn't care if she was, ATHENA, KSK, or even the god damn commander of NATO; you get in after you get the green.

And so far, he didn't like her. At all. He unholstered his sidearm and continued to hold the private at gun point. The rest of the crew and Max became tense, the Marder not moving a single centimeter from where it had stopped.

"First of all," he growled darkly, "you cannot just enter a vehicle on your own accord. You're currently inside of a Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicle of the 10th Panzer Division. This is a tiny speck of greater Germany, and you've just trespassed its border."

Max scooted over slightly, afraid his uniform would be sprayed by blood if something bad happened at this very moment. "Secondly," Schumann continued, "if you haven't noticed, we are at war with beings of a higher intellegence. For all I know, you're an ET with a fresh uniform you stripped a member of ATHENA from. Not to mention your sudden appearance and forceful entrance."

Raising the pistol to point between her eyes, he was ready to fire if he didn't get the right answer. "What's it going to be? Get out and you walk? Or I do the honor of putting you before a firing squad without the squad?"

[Anowa]

Schumann didn't stop aiming, and his unease continued to grow as the female operator decided to get in without his authorization. He didn't care if she was, ATHENA, KSK, or even the god damn commander of NATO; you get in after you get the green.

And so far, he didn't like her. At all. He unholstered his sidearm and continued to hold the private at gun point. The rest of the crew and Max became tense, the Marder not moving a single centimeter from where it had stopped.

"First of all," he growled darkly, "you cannot just enter a vehicle on your own accord. You're currently inside of a Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicle of the 10th Panzer Division. This is a tiny speck of greater Germany, and you've just trespassed its border."

Max scooted over slightly, afraid his uniform would be sprayed by blood if something bad happened at this very moment. "Secondly," Schumann continued, "if you haven't noticed, we are at war with beings of a higher intellegence. For all I know, you're an ET with a fresh uniform you stripped a member of ATHENA from. Not to mention your sudden appearance and forceful entrance."

Raising the pistol to point between her eyes, he was ready to fire if he didn't get the right answer. "What's it going to be? Get out and you walk? Or I do the honor of putting you before a firing squad without the squad?"

Wladyslav
Damn Germans and their territoriality, "I'd like to point out that ETs aren't capable of disguising that well, you'd be able to tell at this distance. And clearly she isn't a hologram, so let's just relax for a moment, we don't need anyone else dead today. Besides, I can confirm she's ATHENA." In all honesty I only vaguely knew the woman, I'd only seen her around Ooster a few times. But I recognized her, and if she were ET she'd have started shooting already. That and I didn't want blood all over me. So it was a win win for me to diffuse the situation, no blood and an extra pair of hands.

[Unified Free Lands]

Anka, though deep down she knew that this wasn't a smart move, flipped the safety off of her AK-103, growing angry at the German. "Give me a fucking break," she snapped, her temper rising by the second. "It tells me a lot about you that you care more about your egos than the safety of a friendly operator... But then again, I didn't know what I expected from Germans."
Was she overreacting? Maybe, but Anka really had a special distaste for Germans, moreso than for Americans.

[Anowa]

Anka, though deep down she knew that this wasn't a smart move, flipped the safety off of her AK-103, growing angry at the German. "Give me a fucking break," she snapped, her temper rising by the second. "It tells me a lot about you that you care more about your egos than the safety of a friendly operator... But then again, I didn't know what I expected from Germans."
Was she overreacting? Maybe, but Anka really had a special distaste for Germans, moreso than for Americans.

I threw my hands up,"Sweet mother of Jesus, I'm trying to get you not shot Kurwa, and you decide to run lip at a man with several of his comrades less that six feet away! Do you want to get shot? Because that is how getting shot by a furious German man happens! Now if we could all just sit the fuck down and get moving!? I don't want to end up hot fucking porridge because a UFO decides we are a juicy target! LET'S FUCKING GO!"

[Tiltjuice]

Antwerp City Hall

No one said a word as the two Canadians and the Australian bundled their kit inside; even Marilee was silent for a moment. There had been the flicker of a motion just inside the edge of Lindsay's field of vision, but when she turned her head to glance up through the windshield, nothing was there but concrete, glass and metal, and she put it out of her mind.

The BMW pulled away. With the N1 clear, the only stumbling block was a pair of ambulances flying suddenly out of Sint-Jozefstraat and swerving left to pass them; the Embassy car jerked right, throwing everyone in that direction.

"Sorry!" Lindsay called out as her rifle clattered between the windscreen and dashboard. The BMW blew through the intersection where the paramedics were trying to load victims of a car crash in front of the Antwerp City Brewery, earning herself swearing that vanished in the wind at 50 mph. "Guess we're lucky I'm dry."

The only other unusual sight came at the corner where the E19 and N1 met - 200 meters away, the figure of a man in U.S. battledress standing over a woman, and Lindsay pulled to a stop. This is worth checking out, she thought, glancing around at the others and then nodding toward the strange pair.

---

Brilschanspark, Antwerp
52 km north of Brussels

The ringing of the bell stirred Tine into action. Someone was at the door again? Why did someone always have to be at the door when she was in the shower? She ducked her head under the water to keep any shampoo from running into her eyes. It certainly wouldn't do to look teary and red-eyed for the caller!

The bathrobe felt unusually thin as she slipped it on, and she shivered, feeling the ache of the cold in her bones. Opening up, she greeted the stranger, or tried to until she saw the suppressed pistol in the woman's gloved hand. She was fast, in a way that stunned the Dane, managing to fire a round as soon as the door opened and then another as Tine tried to slam it on her. Heat and pain blew open her awareness as the first bullet punched through her shoulder and the second nicked skin off her arm.

Then she sat upright and saw, instead of a woman in unusual sunglasses, a man in U.S. Army uniform, looking exhausted. Reaching back with her good arm, she pushed herself up on the bike.

"Here's to being tired together," Tine said tonelessly, but in a way others might have recognized. "I don't suppose you've been here long."

[Sonitusia]

A few dead seconds later, Schumann finally lowered his weapon, calming everyone in the vehicle down. They'd never seen their Lieutenant in such hate before, and now they just witnessed it with front row seats. "The Pole is right, but you're not a 'friendly' soldier. Just an under disciplined boot."

Turning the safety back on and closing the hatch, the Marder finally drove off again. Schumann looked at the Polish man for a brief moment, but his face was no longer stiff; it was tired with a faint smile. He gave the smallest of nods and moved over to the front of the compartment. "Women are a pain in the ass," he muttered in his native tongue towards the gunner, who chuckled lightly.

[Erucia]

Antwerp City Hall

No one said a word as the two Canadians and the Australian bundled their kit inside; even Marilee was silent for a moment. There had been the flicker of a motion just inside the edge of Lindsay's field of vision, but when she turned her head to glance up through the windshield, nothing was there but concrete, glass and metal, and she put it out of her mind.

The BMW pulled away. With the N1 clear, the only stumbling block was a pair of ambulances flying suddenly out of Sint-Jozefstraat and swerving left to pass them; the Embassy car jerked right, throwing everyone in that direction.

"Sorry!" Lindsay called out as her rifle clattered between the windscreen and dashboard. The BMW blew through the intersection where the paramedics were trying to load victims of a car crash in front of the Antwerp City Brewery, earning herself swearing that vanished in the wind at 50 mph. "Guess we're lucky I'm dry."

The only other unusual sight came at the corner where the E19 and N1 met - 200 meters away, the figure of a man in U.S. battledress standing over a woman, and Lindsay pulled to a stop. This is worth checking out, she thought, glancing around at the others and then nodding toward the strange pair.

---

Brilschanspark, Antwerp
52 km north of Brussels

The ringing of the bell stirred Tine into action. Someone was at the door again? Why did someone always have to be at the door when she was in the shower? She ducked her head under the water to keep any shampoo from running into her eyes. It certainly wouldn't do to look teary and red-eyed for the caller!

The bathrobe felt unusually thin as she slipped it on, and she shivered, feeling the ache of the cold in her bones. Opening up, she greeted the stranger, or tried to until she saw the suppressed pistol in the woman's gloved hand. She was fast, in a way that stunned the Dane, managing to fire a round as soon as the door opened and then another as Tine tried to slam it on her. Heat and pain blew open her awareness as the first bullet punched through her shoulder and the second nicked skin off her arm.

Then she sat upright and saw, instead of a woman in unusual sunglasses, a man in U.S. Army uniform, looking exhausted. Reaching back with her good arm, she pushed herself up on the bike.

"Here's to being tired together," Tine said tonelessly, but in a way others might have recognized. "I don't suppose you've been here long."

Outskirts of Antwerp, BELGIUM
Present

---

The stranger's movements were processed in Andy's mind as being...sudden, though it likely wasn't the correct term. Her way of speaking felt odd to him, even despite his own state: as if she spoke from a strange level of experience. It was either shellshock or veterancy - he couldn't quite decide on either one yet.

"No, not very," came through his face. He was tempted to lay his pack down against the tree where the woman had been resting, but Andy avoided doing so quite yet. He held the bicycle upright against his side, both of his hands still holding onto its handlebars. If he had been out for perhaps a few more days, or a week, the bicycle would've been holding him up instead of the other way around. "I'm glad to see someone else though. Why are you here?"

Andy hadn't quite noticed the BMW pulling up a distance away yet, instead briefly churning his head to the horizon at the sounds of sirens, far away. They almost gave a sense of normalcy to Belgium, but the occasional flutters of dust betrayed the sentiment.

[Tiltjuice]

Tine Lorenzen
Brilschanspark, Antwerp

"I killed two people yesterday...and I stripped in public. In Algeria, two days ago; then I flew to France and passed out. I sewed myself up in a hotel room, but that seems to have come undone. Sorry, I'm leaking a little...but I hope you don't mind too much. Tine Lorenzen," she introduced herself. "Formerly of the Danish Defence, and ATHENA. It's a pleasure to meet you."

She sat up a little more, and craned her neck. "Do you have anything to eat? I don't remember the last time I did."

[Anowa]

Herrman
To be honest I was pretty damn sure that I was hallucinating when I saw the EMTs... with the Lictors in town and the amount of gunfire I heard while trekking in, they should've been dead. I looked back a few seconds after hearing their offensive remarks and noticed they were straight up gone... "What the fuck...?"

When the car stopped I was a bit surprised, not only from the suddenness but also by the US Ranger holding onto a bicycle speaking to the last person I expected to see alive. "Stay in the car." With that I opened the vehicle's door and started walking towards the two, weapon cradled in my arms. When I got close enough, within four meters I spoke, "Bit of an odd time to start a motorcycle gang isn't it, what with an alien invasion and all?"

[Unified Free Lands]

Anka lowered her rifle, switching the safety back on and staying silent. Let's just get back to camp, and then I can get away from these guys... I wouldn't have signed up for this organization if I knew that seemingly all the friendly forces were going to be from NATO. Too late to do anything about it now though.

[Senkaku]

Antwerp

---

They left, with about ten seconds to spare. Arkady immediately started his engine and began following, listening in Antwerp's strange silence for the sound of the engine.
The BMW wasn't really trying to hide- after all, there wasn't any traffic to blend in with or try and tangle up behind it, and Arkady assumed that they didn't know he was following them. However, since he preferred to keep it that way, he stayed well behind them, moving in bursts as they got further away and doing as best he could to drive on parallel streets or wind through alleys. The scooter had plenty of juice left for such maneuvering.
He came to a screeching halt, however, at the sound of sirens and the sight, an instant later, of a pair of ambulances. What the fuck? He swerved into a side alley, rattling onto the next street and switching the scooter off to try and listen for the BMW's engine. All he could hear were the paramedics and their sirens. Son of a bitch. What are they even doing here? It took him nearly a minute to zip around the potential witnesses, and then he stopped again, listening for the BMW's engine.
That's what you fucking get for messing around with sidestreets alone, you dumbfuck! Why can't this city have at least a little bit of traffic, besides fucking random-ass ambulances?

He took a deep breath, composing himself. Perhaps they just stopped- they can't have gone too far yet, you'd have heard it if they'd accelerated all of a sudden. He eased the scooter around the corner- and there they were, maybe five hundred meters away, with the BMW parked by the side of the road.
And now they might have seen you. But congrats on fucking finding them, he thought in frustration as he pulled a sharp turn back out of sight.

Thankfully, the only trace of his presence would be a faint whizzing noise, like an electric motor whirring. The scooter had carried him out of sight by the time anyone would think to look over.

---

In a dark office, meanwhile, inside a black suitcase, a mechanical timer slowly ticked away...

[Erucia]

Outskirts of Antwerp, BELGIUM
Present

---

"I killed two people yesterday...and I stripped in public. In Algeria, two days ago; then I flew to France and passed out. I sewed myself up in a hotel room, but that seems to have come undone. Sorry, I'm leaking a little...but I hope you don't mind too much."

Tine's statement echoed in Andy's thought-process for a few noticeable moments, him emitting a blank stare as a response for that duration before he quite decided what to think of that statement. Was the whole world such an oddity now? Alien invasion, his whole company...was somewhere, and now there was a strange woman with a completely non-nonchalant way of looking at experiences straight out of a spy thriller novel. Was she having a mental breakdown, and this was where her mind had gone?

No, no: she was much too composed for that. At least, for lying about the whole Algeria thing - that was a story for another time, most certainly.

He instinctively looked down and patted at his pack behind him for a few seconds, leaving the bicycle to lean against his flank. "Yes, I think I have something: a couple of heatable rations, a pair of soup cans," the Ranger began, but then looked back up towards Tine as if with a realization, and dove a hand into a small pouch on his plate carrier. Out, he fished a small protein bar. "Here, take this: I still have a couple more of them. One's enough for a whole meal...It's also 'chocolate'-flavored, if that matters." He did a motion with his free hand as he said so. "Specialist Andy Nikolic, US Army. Ranger Regiment."

Andy was spending a few moments waiting for a response, holding out the small protein bar, when from a distance he heard a man's quip. He tilted his head lightly over his shoulder, to see a fatigue-clad man making his way over, battle rifle in-tow. There was a slight hint of facial scarring from underneath the balaclava he wore, around the eyes.

Did he get the scars for his famous quips?

Now eyeing the new arrival, Andy subtly moved his free right hand down to the grip of his own carbine. The ACR was moreso insurance now: he wasn't expecting trouble from this new stranger, too friendly - and he looked, and sounded, like NATO. Even if he couldn't recognize the uniform at all; if the SCAR was any indicator, he was probably somebody important, like a Delta or Activity operator. He was American-sounding, right?

For the moment, he just gave the arrival a friendly-enough smile and didn't say a word. He'd wait and see how it went.

[Theyra]

Brilschanspark, Antwerp

Jaden arrived at Antwerp, breathing heavily and with some cuts on his right arm. Along with a makeshift bandage on his right leg. Jaden made it to Brilschanspark after making his way through traffic. "I knew I should have learn some Dutch". He said as he tried to read the street signs and he saw a man in a U.S. Army uniform talking to a women. " Maybe they know where the other Athena's members are or maybe a place to rest for a bit? Jaden thought to himself and walked over to the pair. The two would see that he is still holding on to his HK416C and is wearing a Athena uniform.

[Anowa]

Herrman
The worried face of the ranger gave away any questions he might've asked, combined with his slightly guarded pose, and the hand on his rifle meant he wanted identification, "Sergeant Wolfram Herrman, ATHENA." the ranking insignia on his shoulder displayed Specialist, and the name tag on his left pectoral read 'Nickolic'. "So specialist, you mind telling me what happened to the rest of your unit? Whether you know or not you feel free to tag along." I jabbed my thumb at the car idling behind me a bit of a ways, "Also, Tine. You may want to invest in a new shirt, ETs can smell blood like it's a fucking Chinese buffet, you know that."

I glanced up at a some movement from the opposite side of the assembled two, it was a face I didn't recognize, bu a uniform I did. I waved to the man walking in the distance.

[Theyra]

Herrman
The worried face of the ranger gave away any questions he might've asked, combined with his slightly guarded pose, and the hand on his rifle meant he wanted identification, "Sergeant Wolfram Herrman, ATHENA." the ranking insignia on his shoulder displayed Specialist, and the name tag on his left pectoral read 'Nickolic'. "So specialist, you mind telling me what happened to the rest of your unit? Whether you know or not you feel free to tag along." I jabbed my thumb at the car idling behind me a bit of a ways, "Also, Tine. You may want to invest in a new shirt, ETs can smell blood like it's a fucking Chinese buffet, you know that."

I glanced up at a some movement from the opposite side of the assembled two, it was a face I didn't recognize, bu a uniform I did. I waved to the man walking in the distance.

Jaden saw the man in the Athena uniform, that waved that him and walked over to him. "Your Athena", Jaden said with relief. "I didn't know if anyone made it out of the base or were you stationed else where? If Herrman were to looked at Jaden's uniform then he would see the Corporal insignia on his right shoulder.

[Tiltjuice]

Tine Lorenzen
Brilschanspark, Antwerp

At first Tine said nothing, focusing on wolfing down the bar. Then, abruptly, the arrival of two men in ATHENA uniform, one from the car and one seemingly out of nowhere, interrupted her. The closer one, with the Canadian flag patch above the 'ATHENA' scroll, she knew. The other, an American, must have joined up after she'd left.

"Also, Tine. You may want to invest in a new shirt, ETs can smell blood like it's a fucking Chinese buffet, you know that."

"The sooner I get to a medic, the better, then; otherwise I'll keep leaking. Quick field stitching and a bottle of gin only does so much... I think I'd like to keep my shirt on for now, though, unless you have one to spare. I'm not showing you all my chest. Especially not you, without dinner at least," she addressed this last to the American with the Combat Engineer lapel pins. "Help me up and we can all get going...I think. How are we all getting out of here, though? If I'm not mistaken that BMW will only hold five people, four of us here, and two still in the car unless my blood loss is making me hallucinate."

She started to stand but faltered, hastily grabbing onto Andy's shoulder to support herself.

[Theyra]

Tine Lorenzen
Brilschanspark, Antwerp

At first Tine said nothing, focusing on wolfing down the bar. Then, abruptly, the arrival of two men in ATHENA uniform, one from the car and one seemingly out of nowhere, interrupted her. The closer one, with the Canadian flag patch above the 'ATHENA' scroll, she knew. The other, an American, must have joined up after she'd left.

"Also, Tine. You may want to invest in a new shirt, ETs can smell blood like it's a fucking Chinese buffet, you know that."

"The sooner I get to a medic, the better, then; otherwise I'll keep leaking. Quick field stitching and a bottle of gin only does so much... I think I'd like to keep my shirt on for now, though, unless you have one to spare. I'm not showing you all my chest. Especially not you, without dinner at least," she addressed this last to the American with the Combat Engineer lapel pins. "Help me up and we can all get going...I think. How are we all getting out of here, though? If I'm not mistaken that BMW will only hold five people, four of us here, and two still in the car unless my blood loss is making me hallucinate."

She started to stand but faltered, hastily grabbing onto Andy's shoulder to support herself.

"One second" Jaden said and he sits downs on the ground. He carefully removes his bloodied makeshift bandage to check his leg. There is a good-sized cut on his right leg and the blood on the bandage is dried. "Well, looks like the bleeding has stopped" and he takes out a torn cloth from his uniform. He wraps the cloth around the wound. "Yeah.... still hurts" he said after tightening the bandage around the cut. Jaden gets up but, in some pain from his leg. He holster his HK416C goes and helps the woman stand up. He supports her by putting her arm over his shoulder. "I should introduce myself, I'm Corporal Jaden Vale of Athena". "Combat Engineer or sapper and personally I am glad to find anyone really". He speaks to the group with this next part. "By any chance do you guys know Dutch or the layout of the city? "Because, I am lost here and I found you guys by stumbling around the city". "We should find a medic for her before she loses enough blood to warrant a blood transfusion and that will be dicey in this place".

[Anowa]

I quirked an brow at Tine, "Slight exposure or the possibility of fist fighting a Chieftain, your choice. But we can cram enough people into the Beamer if need be, there's space in the trunk too. But yeah a medic is a Good idea." I turned my head towards Jaden, "I think Tine speaks broken Dutch, but we're headed down towards Brussels on account of a Lictor ambush. And your coming with." With that I turned away and keyed the radio strapped to my shoulder, ATHENA make, noting short of a total EMP would disrupt the signal, "Emilie, we go-" I was interrupted by the sound of a distant boom, looking up I saw a streak of fire falling from the sky, along with several others all across the sky, "...Emilie, get everyone the fuck on the move down the N1. Armor's dropping in we gotta bounce." I turned back to the few others assembled, "Mount up. Now.

[Bentus]

Emilie Girard
Antwerp

---

Loose papers and stray desk ornaments lay strewn across the floor of the office, many of which were adorned with the seal of either NATO or the United Nations. With the invasion of Europe and the influx of refugees, both organisations worked together to swiftly set up camps such as that now established in the main plaza of Antwerp. It was an unparalleled humanitarian effort, and in ordinary times would have been lauded as a monument to international co-operation. However, the invasion of Europe had brought with it extraordinary times, and even such mammoth efforts were deemed unlikely to be sufficient. Such cold, brutal statistical analyses did little to avert the world’s desire to help their fellow human beings, and the humanitarian mobilisation nearly rivalled the initial military response to the invasion.

With both time and resources as foes, existing facilities were requisitioned and repurposed in anticipation of the coming tide of refugees. Antwerp’s City Hall, like many other public buildings, found itself enlisted as part of the effort. Offices which used to house local officials were occupied by UN and NATO officials trying to co-ordinate the most rapid humanitarian effort in history. Unfortunately, such monumental projects seemed to exude similarly mammoth quantities of paperwork and bureaucratic red-tape, piles of which now stood obstinately between Emilie and her goal.

This was the third room that the French woman was turning upside down, the other two searches proving to be fruitless. After the Lieutenant had left to respond to the SEAL team’s request for assistance, those who had remained had tackled the problem of transportation. While the ragtag group of soldiers and survivors already had a few vehicles at their disposal, they weren’t enough for all of them. Nobody fancied being amongst the poor unfortunates who had to trek through hostile territory on foot; fortunately, plenty of vehicles had been abandoned in the hasty evacuation. The only catch was figuring out a way to get them running again. One of the Czechs, an engineer, was hard at work trying to coax the idle cars into action. Emilie had watched for a few minutes before the feeling of being helpless had become too much. How hard could it be to find some spare keys lying around? Harder than she’d initially thought, it turned out.

Rummaging through the desk had turned up nothing, and Emilie felt increasingly exasperated at her lack of success. Slamming the last drawer shut, Emilie threw herself into the expensive leather chair with a muttered curse. Defeated, the medic idly rocked herself forwards and backwards, until her eyes started fell upon the pieces of paper that she’d tossed onto the floor during her search. Emilie paused mid-motion then, stationary as she stared blankly at the mess strewn around her. Troop movements involving thousands, relocation orders that threatened to change the lives of entire neighbourhoods, all were now as worthless as the paper on which they were printed.

“Mon Dieu, how long did it take everything to fall apart?” She directed the words to the empty room, for a moment feeling the weight of not knowing what lay further West – if anything. Emilie thought back to her time with Athena. All those years, the dirt and the blood and the goddamn sacrifices – what had been for? Had the aliens just been toying with them all that time? In frustration, Emilie kicked the desk in front of her – hard.

The sound of glass clinking interrupted Emilie’s pessimistic train of thought.

Glancing under the wooden counter, Emilie saw a small cabinet tucked away, almost entirely out of sight unless one were sitting at the large table itself. Reaching out to open its door, Emilie found herself greeted by a small collection of spirits and liquors. “Well, what do we have here?” She smirked slyly at the discovery, her immediate concern forgotten as she poached one of the glass bottles, lifting it to the light so as to better read its label. Nodding appreciatively, Emilie silently added a few of the bottles to her satchel – she was sure that the office’s original owner wouldn’t be missing them anytime soon, and what the others didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

The medic nearly jumped in surprise as her radio suddenly burst into life. “Emilie, we go-" There was a burst of static. "...Emilie, get everyone the fuck on the move down the N1. Armor's dropping in we gotta bounce.”

“Merde!” Emilie was already up and with her rifle in hand before Andy had even finished his warning, the tone of his voice all the incentive she needed to get off her arse. It didn’t take her long to get back downstairs, running full pelt towards the Czechs and anyone else still trying to jumpstart their ride.

Suddenly, the roar of an engine burst into existence, along with a number of congratulatory cheers as the Czech engineer emerged from the interior of a Land Cruiser. The letters ‘UN’ were stencilled in no-nonsense, black bold on the side of the otherwise white vehicle. He turned to see Emilie racing towards them, a look of confusion passing across his features. “Wha -?”

“Time to move, now.” She declared forcefully, calling out similar orders to anyone in earshot. The engineer seemed to be about to respond, mildly upset at having his success so easily ignored, but was interrupted as a series of sonic booms rocked over the group’s location.

After looking into the sky to see a number of fiery streaks making their descent, nobody needed any further motivation.

This is time for everyone to get the hell out of Antwerp. Anyone who still needs a ride, you can have your char be among a group that got another UN vehicle working - be it through a lucky finding of keys or hotwiring the darn thing.

[Senkaku]

Antwerp

---

Quite abruptly, the sun was shining in Antwerp. The shadows gathering and pooling in the city's darkening streets were ripped away and sent fleeing by this unexpected radiance, which shone forth almost painfully from the area around City Hall. The source of this light seemed to expand in an instant, consuming everything around it- and in a great flash, it was gone, and now a vast pillar of fire rose over the city, fading from searing orange to a dull, sinister brown-gray. The shockwave advanced more slowly than the intense first flash had, but the impact it had was quite visible. Buildings were lifted into the air as if they were no more than children's blocks, and then reduced simply to so much dust and dirt, flying before the wind of the unnatural hurricane that threw them forward on a hellishly hot breeze.

As the mushroom cloud began to rise over Antwerp, another sun flamed into being. This one was not some advanced, carefully hidden suitcase bomb, but rather had just been fired on the tip of a missile from an unmarked French drone loitering several miles away. Negotiations between Moscow and Paris had not taken long after Russia's massive nuclear assault- the French, in truth, had been hoping for someone to stick their necks out and do the deed. The drone promptly crashed itself into the Channel, as had been agreed. Moscow would take the blame for the strike, and the hard-pressed French now had a favor to call in to the Kremlin for helping them ensure that their agent's operation was successful. The French weapon was a fifty-kiloton warhead, far more powerful than Arkady's little ten-kiloton star in a box, and it fell further down the Scheldt, obliterating what parts of the city were still standing after the first bomb.
Moscow, after all, was not going to risk the chance that Arkady had failed. Antwerp needed to go.

---

Regardless, as two nuclear bombs flattened most of the abandoned port city, and the shadows they had expelled began creeping back in to sit heavily under growing clouds of radioactive dust or skitter around the edge of the raging fires they had ignited, more pressing matters had beset the Motherland, and indeed the world. ET had definitely been stung badly by the main nuclear attack, which had achieved nearly all of its operational goals- a stunning success, it seemed at first, for Russia and the entire world.
But now the aliens, it seemed, intended to show humans they were not lacking in their own expertise on the destruction of cities and armies, and they were now applying yet another painful lesson to the arrogance of man.

With their fleet in orbit over Copenhagen were a number of ships, all of which humanity had previously assumed to be transports or supply ships. Four ships, smaller than their compatriots- 'only' perhaps the size of a good-sized town, instead of Manhattan sent soaring through the heavens- split off from the main fleet, their acceleration marveled at by human observers on the ground.

They dropped a number of large objects, later determined to be tungsten rods about the size of the Chrysler Building, each with a 'special' payload. This payload was either one or several very powerful nuclear weapons (no consensus had been reached), which detonated with a force of about 200 megatons at 500 meters above the surface. Given the location of the nukes, and whatever technology the aliens had applied to the rear of their giant rods from God, this served to both create an immensely powerful nuclear explosion, and to massively accelerate the already hypersonic chunks of tungsten.
One of these weapons was sufficient to entirely excise the city of Kiev from existence, along with about ten miles of surrounding countryside. Ejecta from the Kiev strike fell for hours, as far away as Astrakhan. A second obliterated Smolensk (along with 9,000 Russian troops), a third Minsk, a fourth vaporized Gdansk and countless Polish soldiers, a fifth weapon annihilated Riga, and a sixth turned most of the Crimea and the Russian Black Sea Fleet (save for its submarines and a few ships at sea) into a shattered ruin. The aliens also put one down off the Turkish coast, which blew the tiles off the roofs of the minarets of the Hagia Sofia and inundated most of Istanbul (though not the great mosque itself) in a vast tsunami.
The eighth weapon fell to Earth squarely on Dover. It wiped the city clean off the map, and even in London there was scarcely a window left unbroken- the shockwave had been powerful enough to even knock down some older buildings. The reverberations from the impact had sufficient force to entirely topple the famous Dover Cliffs, shaking the weak limestone into the sea below, and the noise could be heard quite clearly as far away as Berlin, while the flash lit up the entire western horizon in Antwerp and set the recently-disturbed shadows there alight once again. This unearthly orange-yellow glow persisted for several minutes, as if the sun had come back up to the surface to take a last breath of air before descending beneath the sea into the long night.

Chunks of glowing rock the size of cars would pummel all of Europe for several hours, particularly in the East. It was quickly discovered that the Kiev weapon had also been liberally laced with cobalt, which, upon the nuke's detonation, had basically reduced a vast swathe of the Ukraine to uninhabitable radioactive wasteland. Some rocks fell as far away as Okinawa, where a chunk of radioactive concrete later established to be from Gdansk punched a ten-foot hole in Kadena Air Base's main runway.
Two years later, Japanese scientists would discover, burned deep into the rock, salvageable DNA from two Polish soldiers who had been killed instantly by the Gdansk Impact.

---

The Great Bombardment was over, and a new phase of humanity's war for survival was beginning.

Discussed with Bentus.

[Erucia]

Outskirts of Antwerp, BELGIUM
Present

---

There were certain, very broad questions that Andy had wanted answered - these consistent mentions of whatever the heck "ATHENA" was, or how exactly it tied all of these soldiers (likely "operatives" would be a better term) together. Tine's faltering stance changed that, moving a degree of focus now over to helping find some medical attention for her. Andy immediately grappled her and held her upright, letting the bicycle leaning against him fall to the concrete with a raw clattering noise.

And then, there was the matter of what was in the sky.

The boom, the little bits of blame going in the distance closing fast. The sudden bits of shouting from the people around him, all flinging their way into Andy's subconscious. There was not even a question of what he was going to do next. He reached a spare arm out to nearly-slap Wolfram's shoulder a few times to grasp his attention.

"I'll get Tine into the back of the car, then I'll load myself in the trunk!", the shout came from him with almost a newfound energy, breaking the weary composition away.

With that, Andy summoned what energy he could to single-handedly shuffle his way over to the car, Tine moving on one shoulder and the Carl Gustav weighing down on the other. Despite this, it was certainly with haste: keeping up with the rest of the group, he finally leaned the woman against the side of the car to open the door to the back and to load Tine in.

"Make room, make room!", Andy shouted as he pulled one final piece of exertion out to one-carry lift Tine into the rear passenger seat. He quickly slapped the seatbelt into position over her, before nearly slamming the door shut and running back around to the trunk - opening it and loading his launcher in, and then himself. It took the matter of a few moments to cram his body in, but Andy (just barely) managed to close the trunk on himself.

[Sonitusia]

The Marder came speeding in back to the camp, only to find that it was being abandoned, with the ground shaking the entire perimeter. Odetta was relieved to see the vehicle return, and the hatch opened as it passed her. "Get in, Carrius, Lueder," Schumann ordered, and he helped pull the woman inside, where she found it crowded with ATHENA operators and SEALs. They had to drop some equipment to fit inside, and they were just able to get in. The hatch was about to be shut once more, when the rumble of another vehicle was heard.

It was the second IFV. There were burn marks all over it, but it was moving normally. As it stopped, only one person stepped outside of the vehicle; the driver. He panted, half of his face scorched, and walked up to the Lieutenant. "Mein herr," he murmured, "the entire platoon got wiped out, including the Feldwebel." Odetta held her breath, recalling every single soldier who had entered that vehicle. She would never see their faces again. No more laughs to be shared, no more falling into formation like in the past. Their platoon was practically shaved in half.

Slamming his fist into the side of the hull, Schumann's face showed absolute rage. He couldn't say a word, having just lost nine men under his command. It took him several moments to finally look back up to the driver and ask, "Can you still drive?" The man before him nodded, and a hand gesture told him to get back into his vehicle. The radio technician and a couple more men entered the Marder, and they got it back into a combat state. The hatch was wide open on it, as both vehicles slowly began to roll out of the now abandoned city.

[Anowa]

A few minutes before nuclear detonation
Wladyslav
I saw a rather old friend clamber into the APC, someone I didn't expect to see. At least not after she left ATHENA, "Well butter my ass and call me a stripper, I didn't expect to see you in one piece Odetta. I expected you to still be in Germany, but then again not many people are nowadays, I hope as many people got out as they could." Rumbling through the vehicle, and presumably the ground caught my attention, "Anyone know what the hell is going on?"

---

Herrman
I scrambled into the passenger seat of the cramped vehicle, I decided to forgo a seat belt, seeing as if I needed to bail, that extra second might kill me. I saw several of the fireballs touch down in the distance. "Sharrow, you want to wait for the others to catch up, or you wanna go now?"

[Tiltjuice]

Lindsay Black-Sharrow
Outskirts of Brussels - Haren district

Lindsay's levity had vanished with the dimming of the artificial glow in the rearview mirror. Behind them now lay acres of radioactive ash; ahead were unknown numbers of aliens. And they still had two injured to deal with - Tine and Jaden.

The convoy had stopped to avoid drawing aliens and formed a loose defensive circle. Andy had been let out of the trunk, and Tine was now in one of the German IFVs, waiting for Emilie to take a better shot at her hasty field stitches. The Russian had disappeared somewhere, and hadn't yet shown up; she hoped he'd made it out of the city. Kendall, too; for all that he was reckless, the party needed every person it could get. And to make things worse, the sun had fully risen - so they didn't have the cover of darkness anymore.

"Well," she finally said into the silence, "nowhere else to go but forward. Do we split up here and try to sneak through in small groups, or do we try to punch directly through, with Scouts in the lead? Either way, I'm content to take overwatch or check out what's ahead of us, depending on what we need. I'm not sure we should risk the Master Sarge, though."

Herrman
I scrambled into the passenger seat of the cramped vehicle, I decided to forgo a seat belt, seeing as if I needed to bail, that extra second might kill me. I saw several of the fireballs touch down in the distance. "Sharrow, you want to wait for the others to catch up, or you wanna go now?"

Lindsay Black-Sharrow
Outskirts of Antwerp

"The Americans must be crazy," the British sniper quipped to Herrman as he piled in, turning to look briefly at the trunk lid in mid-downward swing.

Tine hastily swung her legs to the floor to make room for Jaden in the backseat, and to get off of Marilee. The corporal slammed the door behind him, waving at the IFVs to follow as the streaks touched down and the Crab began rumbling in their direction, already beginning to fire plasma blasts. The Chieftain - or whatever else - wouldn't be far behind, and so Lindsay answered Herrman's question by stamping down on the pedal. The BMW shot away down the N1 with the surprised Germans following. The Chieftain, surprisingly, hadn't, maybe to help secure the city. Who knew with aliens? Only the Crab managed any damage, blowing away a civilian Jeep and its four Czech occupants. A pair of Blues advancing ahead of it had been torn to shreds by the return fire from the group.

The massive railyard of northeast Brussels had just come into view when fire bloomed and a mushroom cloud blossomed into view, followed by two much larger.